The Secret to Adventure and Finance – Reward-to-Risk

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Andrew Williams

On April 11, 2022

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The Secret to Both Adventure and Finance
Reward-to-Risk

As world travelers, and digital nomads, we manage risk all the time. For many of us, there is the risk of leaving a steady job. There is the risk of leaving a place we know well in order to land somewhere new. There is the day-to-day risk of earning a living online, of making sure we have good internet for that Zoom meeting, of making a deadline while simultaneously trying to make your flight.

Without realizing it, we are constantly weighing what investors call the Reward-to-Risk ratio. Whether consciously, or unconsciously, our mind is running the numbers on each decision and determining if the rewards outweigh the risks involved.

Twenty years ago I was a commodities trader living in Chicago. I was self-employed, young, and successful financially. I could have kept on like that indefinitely (all except the young part). Instead I chose to leave it all behind and take off to sail around the world. In my head I weighed the risks. I wouldn’t be working, and earning money. My savings might not hold out. I might sink the boat. Death? Then I thought about the rewards. Adventure. Stories to live through, and to tell about. Living a simpler, less expensive lifestyle. Being outdoors, in the sun, in the ocean, on the beach, any time I wanted. Meeting new, interesting, adventurous people. The list seemed to go on and on.

For me, the rewards far outweighed the risks. In fact, most of the risks were wildly exaggerated, to begin with. Sailboats sometimes sink, but it is exceedingly rare, and the risk of dying out at sea is more due to a heart attack than any real risk involved with the boat itself.

Eventually, the financial risk did catch up to me. After a decade of mostly not working, other than writing two books, my finances had dwindled enough that it was time for me to start thinking about padding the accounts again.

Fortunately, my previous working life had gone online. Traders no longer stood shoulder-to-shoulder screaming at each other all day—now they sat quietly in front of computer screens.

Trading stocks for a living is nothing more than weighing rewards and risks. Unlike the risks of taking off to become a digital nomad, the rewards and risks of trading are quantifiable, which makes decision-making much easier.

Most beginning traders can’t eliminate their emotions from the equation, which is why they tend to underperform the markets. But being a lifelong professional trader, I’ve learned to take emotion out of my decisions. Trading is about numbers—nothing else.

After a few years of trading on my own, from all over the world, I decided to start an online business as well.

For the first time, I truly felt like I identified as a digital nomad. Up to this point I’d been circling the globe with my family, working alone, but now I built a community.

My venture, Wanderer Financial, aims to teach people how to invest so that they can become financially independent and live freely, too. Now, instead of trading alone each day, I trade with hundreds of others from all over the globe. We talk about markets, make trades, and discuss our travels.

After twenty years I’m more certain than ever that life, as well as investing, is all about weighing rewards and risks. When the true risk involved is put into context, the rewards can be factored, and a lifestyle, or investing decision can then be made. This allows us to make that decision without the emotions that often hold us back or cause us to make poor decisions.

Pat Schulte

Pat Schulte is a travel blogger at www.bumfuzzle.com, and stock trader and teacher at www.wandererfinancial.com. He has been a full-time traveler for twenty years, via boats and motorhomes, and an investor/trader his entire adult life.

About Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams is the Founder of Remote Tribelife, an online magazine for digital nomads and remote working. Andrew has an extensive background in SEO and content marketing. His experience with digital marketing goes back to his early age in University when he founded a blog about startups and funding. He does his best writing in the coffee shops in Bali or in the condos of busy cities like Bangkok and Singapore. He is currently based in Singapore. You can connect with Andrew on his Linkedin profile and/or follow Remote Tribelife on Instagram. View all posts by Andrew Williams